‘We have had a simplistic approach to studying and treating anxiety. Anxiety interrupts the brain’s capacity to ignore these distractions by numbing a group of neurons in the pre-frontal cortex that are specifically involved in making choices. Distractions can be physical, as in things in the environment, or they can take the form of thoughts and worries. What the research means.Īnxiety rolls good decision-making by reducing the brain’s capacity to screen out distractions. Both groups of rats were able to make sound decisions, but the anxious rats made a lot more mistakes when there were more distractions in their way. The researchers compared the behaviour and brain activity of two groups of rats – one that received a placebo and one that received a low dose of a drug that induced anxiety. Rats share many physiological and biological similarities to humans which is why they are often used in these sort of studies. Researchers looked at the activity of brain cells in the PFC of anxious rats while those rats were encouraged to make a decision about which behaviour would get them a sweet reward. It helps to take the emotional steam out of a decision by calming the amygdala, the part of the brain that runs on instinct, impulse and raw emotion (such as fear). The PFC is the part of the brain that gets involved in weighing up consequences, planning, and processing thoughts in a logical, rational way. The area is the pre-frontal cortex (PFC), at the front of the brain, and it is the area that brings flexibility into decision-making. Research published in The Journal of Neuroscience explains how anxiety works to disengage the part of the brain that is essential for making good decisions. Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh have discovered what happens when anxiety rules a heavy hand over decision-making and persuades decisions that aren’t the best ones. Given too much say-so, anxiety can stand in the way of a lot of life. Sometimes moving cautiously is definitely the best way to go. When it’s there, anxiety tends to direct behaviour towards the safest option.

One of ways anxiety interferes is by leading decision-making astray.

Anxiety has many ways of injecting itself into life and causing trouble.

Tell me why im waiting prod. hatemyself